On To Be An Indian:
The Whiteman does not respect anything that pertains to an Indian. Its laughable, ignorance, superstition. You know, everything we do is ignorance. People say...Indians are superstitious, but there are so many things we did not understand. White people, they want to discount things....they do not want to understand.

To be an Indian is to believe.. .because it has been handed down. Thats been the reluctance to share, because its supposed to be so holy You cant discuss holy things with just anyone, thats been the stumbling block. Some of the things are priceless that we were taught. I:95

On Robert Spott:
Even we werent taught. We had to show an interest. We had to be smart. You had to have a brain.. With our people all these things that have been taught, he has to repeat, and he had to.. .he cannot be distracted. Everything is oral, nothing is written. All is memorized. And if somebody kids or stops, or starts fooling around, you are bound to forget and that is not forgiven.. .we remember, because it has been told to us. You could teach three and the others would come stumbling through halfway and they would forget. Well you cannot trust that kind of memory. Robert (Spott). . . .he had the mind, a receptive mind.

He had no children. And then came Alices boys. And he tried to teach them. "No we cant. We dont have the time He never married. And then he came to realize that in his family he was the last. I:67

On Little Stranger:
"Papa used to say whenever you gather your children around your fire and you teach them The Tomorrows, always bring a Little Stranger in, because sometimes your own children are not paying any attention, but the stranger is happy to be there, because you invited him specially. He will probably be the one to learn, whereas your own children..." II:21

On The Most Beautiful Thing:
"Here is the most beautiful thing my dad taught me: Dont ever envy anyone anything they have. Go look at it and enjoy it with them. Bring it home in your mind. And youll always have it. It is yours as much as it is theirs. So I have never envied a soul." II:21

On Memory & Children:
The moment Mama got up in the morning, Papa would hold out his arms, it was his signal for us to crawl into bed beside him. Then he would tell us these little tales and sing these little songs. Then he would say: "Well, I forgot what the little coon sang. Does anyone know? That would be our cue. Every animal had a song: where they lived, where they went, what they said to their parents. And we would tell it back. With our people.. everything is oral. Nothing is written. All had to be memorized. II:92

On Taking Care Of The Old:
We didnt just take care of our immediate family. We took care of the old. Like the old grandmas. The old widows. Someone lived someplace alone, she had no sons, or her husband was gone. Well, you took care of everyone. No one starved. You must look out.. .she was too old to go get.. .then you would assign a child. "You pick for the grandma that lives in the third house. You pick for the grandma that lives in the fourth house.. .down by the creek." Salmon was food, and food was so hard to come by. The nets were short. It was just always getting food. II:244